The Lucky Ones
by sweetkeroline2
Summary: A sequel to 'Poor Pepper'. When all of the Avengers are finally with their true loves, will it make life for the team better, or much MUCH worse?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! It took me a while to get a good start to this story, but I'm hoping it will work out the way I plan!**

**Enjoy!**

**I own NOTHING!**

"Oh! I bet you can't guess this one! What is the only letter that does not appear in The Periodic Table?" Tony smiled as he looked from Pepper to Natasha.

"Why did we bring him?" Nat sighed rubbing her eyes.

"Because it's my jet that brought us here, and it's my driver and my girlfriend that you wanted to bring with you!" Tony reminded the assassin. "Now answer my question!"

"It's J" Pepper replied looking up from her phone. "J is the only letter that does not appear in The Periodic Table."

Tony stared at her, "Did you look up the answer on your phone?"

"Yes I did, you asked a question and I answered it. You did not specify how I should go about answering it."

"Well refresh your Wikipedia, because I just changed the name of my element to Jawanamantium."

"I thought the committee rejected your element."

"Oh, so you're just going straight for the gut now?"

"Hey, don't make me come back there!" Happy called back to the bickering couple.

The four of them had left Stark Tower at around five that morning, and they were already arriving at their first destination—in Santa Clara, California—a little after noon.

"I think you passed it." Natasha informed Happy.

"No I didn't! The GPS says it's coming up in 300 feet."

"Well the GPS is wrong, because 1227 Cavalcade Drive was back there."

"Oh Cripes, did they give us a damn Tom Tom?" Tony groaned reaching up front and snatching the device off of the windshield. "Come on Happy, you should know better than to use one of these things!" He rolled down his window and threw the GPS out.

Happy muttered a curse and turned the rental car around.

"I hope she's home." Pepper said as they pulled into the driveway of a charming little yellow house. Tony didn't reply as he hopped out of the car and jogged to the trunk to retrieve her wheelchair. Considering that she had a wounded right thigh and a casted left ankle, she really had no other choice but to accept Tony's offer of getting her a chair to use—unless she would have rather been carried everywhere by her more than willing boyfriend.

"Tony, stay in the car." Nat ordered, taking control of the chair once Pepper was properly seated.

"What? Why?"

"Because we're trying to get her to come with us, not scare her away." The Russian replied as they made their way up the walk. Tony made a face at her back and begrudgingly climbed back into the car, finding that taking a quick nap would be better than arguing.

"Okay, do we know what we're going to say?" Pepper asked quietly after Natasha rang the doorbell.

"Not a clue, but I think if we just tell her—" She was cut off when the front door swung open to reveal a small brunette woman.

"Hi! Can I help you?" She greeted them with a confused smile. The two redheads hesitated slightly before Pepper spoke up.

"Are you Jane Foster?" She blurted, sounding slightly panicked. Natasha tried not to chuckle at her forwardness.

"Y-yes I am." The woman replied looking between the two strangers on her doorstep, and then behind them at the large SUV in her driveway. "Is something wrong?"

"No! Not at all." Natasha assured her. "We actually have good news!"

"Oh, I'm not interested in converting, thank you." Jane went to close the door, but Nat put her hand on it to stop her.

"Wait! We're not Jehovah's Witnesses!" She exclaimed.

"Nor are we Mormons." Pepper chimed in, earning a strange look from Nat and Jane. "Just thought I should clear that up." She shrugged.

"We're here about a Thor Odinson." Natasha continued, sighing with relief when Jane released the door.

"Thor? Is…" Jane swallowed, trying not to get too excited, "Where is he? Is he on Earth? Is he okay?"

"He's fine! He's in New York." Pepper told her with a small smile. "That's actually why we're here."

/

"I don't understand why there are so many choices." Steve sighed as he, Hawkeye, and Thor all stood and stared at the large wall before them.

"I never knew that such a spectrum could exist." Thor mused.

"I think we should go with blue." Hawkeye said with a shrug.

"But what shade?" Steve asked, "There's navy, cobalt, steel, cerulean, aquamarine, denim…"

"Sapphire, indigo, periwinkle, baby…" Thor continued for him as he stared at the labels.

"Navy." Clint growled going for a pack.

"No…it's too dark." Steve disagreed. "I don't think any of the blues would really work. What about red…dark red…?"

"Yes. I like dark red!" Thor nodded.

Steve went to pick up the pack, but stopped with a small hiss. "See, I don't know about red now either…it'll be hard to find stuff to go with it."

"What do you mean?" Clint demanded, "Red goes with everything!"

"No, not really."

"Just pick a damn color!"

"It's not that easy!"

"They're just plates! People will be eating off of them! They won't care what color they are!" Barton practically yelled in the middle of the party store.

"What about green?" Thor asked from behind them, holding up a pack of dark green paper plates.

"Those'll work." Rogers said quickly, grabbing about ten packs and throwing them in the cart.

/

"So, he's been on Earth for about six months, and I'm only hearing about it now?" Jane asked incredulously.

The group was back aboard the Stark Jet, making their way down to Central Texas. "We weren't really aware of you or your significance to Thor until recently." Pepper told her apologetically. "He's been talking about you so much lately. It's quite obvious that he misses you."

"Yeah, he's a step away from crying every time he sees someone get hit by a car on TV." Tony muttered as he walked away from the minibar and sat next to Pepper, scotch in hand. He smirked cockily when Jane gave him a confused scowl, "Yeah, I can hack into hospital files."

"What Mr. Stark is trying to say," Natasha growled, glaring at the billionaire, "Is that you are very important to Thor, and we think that he would really like to see you again."

"Wait, he doesn't know I'm coming?"

"Well…no…it's supposed to be a surprise." Pepper explained. "But it's okay! He'll be so excited to see you!"

/

"WHAT IS THIS TREACHERY?" Thor roared, "I asked you to bring me a sweet dessert! And you bequeath this…this monstrosity upon me? What do you take me for?"

"Sir, it's red velvet cake." The woman at the bakery told him.

"It is a little bitter." Bruce hesitantly informed her. "Could we maybe sample the chocolate?" The woman glared at the two men before going into the back of the bakery.

"Thank you for joining us on our mission Dr. Banner." Thor patted his teammate's back. "It is nice to have a man who is familiar with this confounding planet along to assist us."

"Oh, it's not a problem." Bruce waved him off. "I thought it would be rather entertaining to not only help plan Tony Stark's birthday party, but to also watch you three do it."

As if on cue, Clint and Steve entered the shop, each of them carrying two handfuls of giant foil balloons of multiple shapes and colors.

"We didn't know what theme to go with so we thought we'd choose a few." Hawkeye grunted trying to maneuver the balloons so that he could set down the large bags hanging from his arms.

"Is that a princess castle?" Bruce asked him as he took a handful off of his hands. "And I think that there's an Elmo one too…"

"What's an Elmo?" Steve asked.

"Uh…never mind…we're almost done here."

"Oh…I do like this!" Thor exclaimed his mouth stuffed with chocolate cake. "You have certainly redeemed yourself wench!" He pointed at the now very angry woman behind the counter.

"Could we get this done with the design on page thirty-two?" Bruce asked quickly, before the Asgardian could say another word. The woman glowered at him and nodded. "Thank you for all your help ma'am, we'll pick it up on Friday."

The four men gathered their belongings and walked out of the bakery. "Where to now?" Steve asked.

"Back to the tower!" Clint growled. "We've been to every party store in the city! I'm beat!" He went to stretch, but in doing so, he released a handful of about twenty balloons. The men stared up into the sky as the bright castles and other shapes floated away.

"Well there goes our Pretty Princess theme." Bruce deadpanned before climbing into the town car.

**Sorry for the abrupt ending. It just seemed like the best stopping point for this chapter.**

**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

Their next stop was right outside of Seattle, Washington. Tony had decided to leave Happy with the jet and drive from the airport for the sake of space…and because he wanted to drive.

"Good god! No one warned me about the rain!" The billionaire grumbled as he nearly swerved off the road for the fourth time. It was about ten o'clock in the evening, and the torrential downpour started right after they got onto the mountain road.

Pepper braced her hand against the dashboard. "The Seattle area is known for its rainfall, Tony." She gritted through nervous teeth. "Maybe if you'd slow down just a little, you wouldn't swerve so much!"

"It's not my speed, it's the tires!"

"The speed limit's 45 miles per hour." Jane pointed out, "And you're going 70."

"I'm aware of that ma'am…thank you."

"Tony! Look that's the turn coming up!" Pepper warned pointing at the street, but Tony saw it too late and sped past it.

"Sh…" He bit back a curse as he slammed on his brakes. But the SUV didn't stop, in fact it spun out all across the road. "Hold on!" Tony yelled bracing his arm against Pepper's chest as they swung back to the right and went off the road, straight down the hill, and into the woods.

"Stark you idiot!" Natasha shouted at him as he swerved to avoid every tree that came into their path.

"No back seat driving please!" He replied calmly. "There's the road!" He jerked the car to the right and suddenly they were on the dirt road that they were originally meant to be on.

"Oh my god!" Jane gasped clutching her chest.

"You ladies need to be more trusting of my expertise." Tony pretended to be hurt.

"I'm sorry, who destroyed a 4 million dollar race car?" Nat snapped.

Tony hesitated for a moment, "The Russian Octopus…" He muttered as they approached a large cabin. "Pepper, if you want to go in I'll have to go in too. There's no way you'll be able to get a wheelchair through the mud." He informed her as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Fine." She relented, "But you better behave!"

Nat waited until Jane and the Pepper toting Tony were on the porch before ringing the bell. After about a minute of waiting, she was about to ring it again, but stopped when the door opened. A woman with long dark hair and piercing blue eyes poked her head out.

She stared at the four sleepily, before it finally registered. Her eyes widened as she opened the door all the way. "Mr. Stark?" She gasped. "Are you here about Bruce?"

/

"So we were thinking of just having the party in Central Park." Steve told Maria as he walked into his bathroom. Agent Hill was sitting on the bed looking over their plans.

"I don't think that's a good idea Captain." She warned.

"Why not?"

"Because, you guys are all wanted by some bad people. And having a party in the middle of one of the largest parks in the country would be just asking for trouble."

Steve mulled over this for a moment as he brushed his teeth. "Fine." He sighed. "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Maria shrugged and smiled at him when he came back into the room. "All I will say is that if you want this party to go as simply as possible, you would have it somewhere in the tower." She suggested flippantly, "There's a ballroom on the tenth floor with a mezzanine, it's stunning."

Steve gave her a look, "Stunning?"

"Yeah. I said it!" She replied defensively. "It's a lot nicer than some silly park with its trees…and grass…"

Steve laughed before giving her idea some thought. "You know it would be a lot easier to set up." He mused, "And the security will be airtight considering Stark made this place into a fortress."

Maria nodded as though this were all old news. "This is why you always listen to Maria." She reminded him, climbing onto her knees and kissing his cheek. "Now, I'm going to bed." She got up to leave but Steve grabbed her arm.

"Wait, you're leaving?" He pouted, "I thought…"

"Oh no mister!" She wagged her finger at him, "You still owe me that date!" She gave him one more look before swaying out of the room.

/

"I saw you all on the news last summer." Betty Ross told them as she poured them each a cup of tea. "I saw…him…even from an aerial shot." She forced a small laugh.

"It was on the news?" Jane sighed, "I really need to get a TV…"

"You don't have a TV?" Tony stared at her in shock.

"You probably wouldn't have seen much." Natasha assured the woman, "The only reason she saw Dr. Banner was because he was swinging from the rooftops."

"Wait…you REALLY don't have a TV?"

"Tony, drop it!" Pepper snapped, punching his arm. "Ms. Ross, we were here actually to ask you a favor."

Betty stared at the redhead for a moment before nodding, "Sure, what do you need?"

"We'd like you to come to New York with us." Pepper continued. She took the way Betty abruptly set down her mug as a bad sign and continued, "You see, with Valentine's Day coming up, we thought that it would be nice for Dr. Banner…Bruce…to see you again. That is, if you aren't seeing anyone…"

"No! No of course not!" Betty replied quickly, as she stood up and walked over the fridge. "I mean I have dated here and there, but nothing ever really…stuck." She sniffled as studied some pictures hanging on the refrigerator.

"You do want to see him again don't you?" Natasha asked gently.

Betty turned to look at her before quickly directing her gaze to the ground and nodding. "Of course I do. I just thought that…" She let out a shuddered breath, "I thought that maybe he didn't want to see me."

Tony decided to take his turn, "See, that's where you're wrong." He muttered taking a sloppy sip of his tea. "I think he wants to see you more than anything in this whole world."

"Then why hasn't he contacted me? At all?"

"Because the last time he did, he had to leave you again. He didn't want to put you through that hurt anymore." The billionaire tried to look dismissive as he explained it to her, but Pepper could see right through it. She bit back a smile, and took hand under the table.

Betty stared at him for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine…okay…just, I need to pack!" She exclaimed before disappearing into the living room.

The kitchen was silent for a moment before Natasha spoke, "Nicely done Mr. Stark." She complimented giving him a cheesy grin.

"What? I can't be a little perceptive every once in a while?" Tony shrugged and wiped his nose with his thumb in a desperate act of masculinity.

"You did good sweetie." Pepper soothed him with a kiss to the cheek. "I'm proud of you." She rested her head on his shoulder and shared a discrete smirk with the other two women.

/

"You see…space-wise, I don't see how it makes sense." Bruce sighed rubbing his forehead. "I mean, this thing would be huge."

"No! Come on!" Clint groaned, "We could make it work!"

"Who would use it?" Banner asked.

"We would!" Thor replied gesturing himself, Barton, and a reluctant Rogers.

"Okay, who would use it, and not destroy it?"

"Oh come on Banner! They make Bouncy Houses a lot stronger than they used to!" Clint reasoned, "I mean, think of all of the fat kids at birthday parties nowadays!"

"He said no Barton, now let's move on." Steve sighed before looking over the plans he had worked on the night before. "Look, I kind of organized everything around the whole tenth floor idea. It seems to work a lot better than any of the other venues we looked at."

"It does make the most sense." Bruce replied, putting on his glasses and studying the paper. "And we won't have to worry about cleanup that night, which is key for a Tony Stark party apparently."

"Dr. Banner! Could we have a Clown?" Thor's voice boomed from the couch where he was watching _Shrek 2_…again.

Confused, Bruce looked up from the plans, only to let out a frustrated sigh when he saw an all-too-casual Hawkeye sitting next to the Asgardian. "No Barton!" He growled before going back to planning with Steve.

**A/N: So, this was another filler-esque chapter. I hope you guys liked it! I LOVED Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, so I kept her in mind when writing this. I've seen Thor like twice now (which is about 1,998 less times than I've seen any other Marvel film) so I don't have a full grasp on Jane's character, so please tell me if I get anything wrong! I might add Darcy into another story later on, but right now I want to stick to the MAIN characters! I hope that's okay!**

**The next few chapters after this will have a lot more to them, so it might take me longer to put them up. **


	3. Chapter 3

They were about an hour into their four hour plane ride back to New York. Most everyone was either asleep, or nearly there. The only two awake were the owners of the jet. Tony sat on the couch-seat in the back of the cabin with his girlfriend stretched across it, her head resting on his lap.

"You really shouldn't be traveling right now." He whispered, playing with her bangs. "You know, you were shot with an arrow a couple of days ago…and wasn't it you who broke your ankle?"

Pepper smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'm fine Tony." She assured him. "I just really wanted to help Nat with this. It was a really good idea."

"Yeah, if you want to call it that." He shrugged.

"What?"

"Nothing…I just…" He sighed before looking down at her lovingly, "I worry about you…constantly. Ever since we started dating, I've been terrified about what could happen if one of these…bad guy—villains if you want to call them that—find out how much you mean to me. And now we're bringing in two more women? Two more people who are very valuable to these men, but also to our enemies. It just…unnerves me a bit."

Pepper stared at him in shock. She had no idea he was so concerned for not only her safety, but for Jane and Betty's as well. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Would it have stopped you?"

"Well…no…" She smiled when he let out a tiny chuckle, "But if it bothered you so much, you should have told me so I could _tell you_ that we are grown women, and we can take care of ourselves." She poked his chest, right next to the Arc Reactor.

"Sure, you say that, but have you seen how close these guys have come to killing Iron Man? Pretty damn close." He reminded her, pulling her up a bit so he could hug her closer, the subject alone had him on edge. "The thought of one of them getting their hands on you makes me sick, and I can tell you that that goes the same for Thor and Bruce about them." He gestured towards Betty and Jane who were sleeping on in adjoined seats on the opposite end of the cabin.

"Tony, I promise you, we'll be fine." Pepper took his face in her hands. "Now, you're tired, and emotional. You need sleep." She pulled him down for a quick kiss.

"I'm not emotional!" He scoffed, but relented when she gave him an incredulous look, "Fine, I guess I could use a few hours' rest." He kissed her once more, before laying her back down and covering her with a blanket from under the seat.

He watched her doze off, before resting his head back and surrendering to dreamland as well.

/

"This is weird…" Bruce muttered awkwardly as he and the others walked into the dimly lit room.

"I thought you said we were going to headquarters." Steve whispered to Clint, his eyes wide as saucers.

Barton could only smirk as he looked around, "This _is_ Headquarters."

"Clint this is a strip club." Bruce stated the obvious as a scantily clad waitress walked in front of him.

"Yeah it is!"

"Oh great gods of Asgard!" Thor exclaimed as he watched some pole dancers nearby. "Why are those maidens only wearing undergarments?"

"THOSE are undergarments?" Steve pointed at the lacy material skeptically.

"Clint, why are we here?" Bruce sighed looking at the elated archer.

"We need to hire some strippers!" Clint exclaimed. "For the party! Come on, this _is_ a Tony Stark party right? Nat told me he was s lady's man!"

"Yeah, one lady. Pepper." Banner reminded him. "And I can think of a couple of ladies who would KILL us if they saw a stripper in that ballroom."

"Yeah, Maria would definitely not appreciate it!" Steve couldn't tear his eyes off of the women on stage.

"Come on! You already vetoed the bouncy house! We have to have something besides a string-quartet and an ice sculpture!" Clint resembled a toddler in a toy store, stomping his foot and whining when he didn't get his way.

"We can negotiate on the bouncy house." Bruce relented with a sigh, "But we are NOT hiring a stripper. That is the last we will discuss of it. Now get Thor away from the stage and let's go get lunch."

He walked out the door as the other two turned to see the Norse God standing right at the edge of the stage and staring up at the dancers in awe.

/

"I'm nervous." Jane whispered as they piled into the limo at the airport. "Do I look okay?" She gestured the yellow summer dress she had changed into on the plane.

"You look great." Pepper assured her as Tony set her down on the seat that stretched along the side of the car and climbed in next to her. "Both of you do!"

"I just can't wait to see him!" Betty pushed her hair behind her ears nervously. "I hope he recognizes me."

"Why wouldn't he? It's only been like, five years right?" Nat asked in confusion. "You couldn't have changed too much."

"I don't think I have…I mean my hair might be a bit longer. I don't really get a chance to go to the salon given that I'm living in the mountains, and I'm always so busy with my research and…" She trailed off when she realized they were all staring. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling."

"You're nervous, don't worry about it." Pepper smiled at her as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Now, when we get there, I want you girls to hide in the penthouse until we say so. We need to figure out the best way to surprise them."

"I know where we can get giant cakes for them to jump out of." Tony suggested. When the four women simultaneously glared at him he deflated, "Never mind."

"We'll figure it out." Natasha growled, trying her best to ignore her former employer.

/

"I am absolutely ravenous! Could we not just eat at the Burgers for Kings again?" Thor asked as they wandered down the sidewalks of Time Square.

"No, no more Burger King!" Clint groaned. "We eat there like, 3 days a week!"

"Yeah, let's try to find somewhere a little less fattening." Rogers agreed.

"How about Pizza?" Bruce suggested.

"What is Pizza?" Thor demanded.

"Oh it's good!" Steve exclaimed. "You'd like it!"

"Where do we find this Pizza?"

"In New York it's a hard commodity to come by." Clint replied with a small smile as they waited at the crosswalk. Thor looked clueless as the others chuckled. Turning, he saw a giant Victoria's Secret billboard on the building behind them.

Given his new fascination with the female body, after his morning in a strip club, he stared at the sign in wonderment as his teammates began to cross the street. When they were almost to the other side, Bruce noticed his absence.

"Thor!" He called, looking around. When he saw the god—clad in cargo shorts and a t-shirt—he looked like any other man leering up at a half naked 'angel' on a billboard. "Thor! C'mon buddy! She's not real!"

The blonde man snapped out of his state, and turned in a full circle before realizing where his friends went. He gave Bruce an apologetic wave before hurrying across to them.

But he hadn't even made it half way across the street, before being struck rather hard by a vehicle—a long black vehicle to be precise.

/

"Dammit! What the hell?" Happy exclaimed.

"Hap! Did you just hit a pedestrian?" Tony asked in exaggerated calmness as he held tight to Pepper so she wouldn't fall off of the seat.

"I had a green light! The dumbass tried to race me!" The driver growled, opening the door and climbing out.

"Sorry about that folks! Apparently—" Tony stopped talking when he saw the look of shock on Jane's face. "What?"

The woman didn't respond. She just swung the back door open and climbed out of the limo less-than-gracefully. She pushed through the swarm of people and smiled when her suspicion was confirmed.

"Uh boss…" Happy called. "I hit the blonde one…"

"The Captain?" Tony perked up.

"No…the other one!"

They all climbed out—Tony carrying Pepper—and pushed their way through the crowd.

Jane sat on the ground with the unconscious Thor's head in her lap. "I knew it was him." She sniffed, looking up at them. "I could tell by the way the car jerked."

"And they said romance was dead." Tony muttered, earning himself a smack in the chest from Pepper.

"Thor? Hey, can you hear me?" Jane whispered, pushing his hair off of his scraped forehead. The man moaned and squinted up at her blearily.

After a moment, realization filled his face, "Jane?" He croaked, sitting up. "Jane?" She laughed as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Yeah, it's me." She gasped as he nearly squeezed all of the breath out of her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am quite alright…why do you ask?" He replied pulling back to look at her with his trademark smile. "You are really my Jane?" He asked quietly.

"I really am your Jane." She promised him with a small kiss.

Betty scanned the—very confused—crowd, hoping that where there's a Thor there would also be a Hulk, or hopefully just his human form. She wasn't disappointed when she saw the nervous ball of energy that was Dr. Banner.

He was staring at the couple on the ground with a mixture of perplexity and concern. "B-Bruce?" She whispered, her voice catching in her throat. "Bruce?" She called, much louder this time.

Hearing his name, Bruce's eyes went up to the opposite side of the crowd. First he saw Happy standing by the limo that struck Thor, then his eyes landed on Tony — who was holding Pepper and next to them was Natasha. He chuckled _'Of course, of all the cars in the city, it would have to be one owned by Tony Stark.'_

He waved at them, but stopped when he realized they were all staring at something. He followed their gaze and realized that that some_thing_ was a some_one_. And that someone was running towards him.

Dr. Banner wasn't one who startled very often. He seen so much in the past decade, he thought he had been immune to surprises. But when he felt Betty Ross jump into his arms, the utter amazement that ran through his body was unreal. When he felt her kiss his lips, his hands were shaking with joy and astonishment as they made their way to her face.

And when he pulled back to look at her beautiful face, he felt his eyes well up with genuine tears of joy. "H-hi…" He choked.

"Hi." She smiled at him, before pulling him into another tight embrace.

"Well." Nat sighed as they watched the two couples' emotional reunions. "I guess that's one way to do it." She shrugged as she made her way back to the limo.

Pepper chuckled and turned to Tony, who had a look of utter boredom on his face. "I'm sorry there were no giant cakes Sweetie Pie." She cooed, touching his nose.

Tony lips twitched into a small smile. "Maybe for my birthday?" He pleaded giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"We'll see." She replied, giving him a loving kiss on the cheek.

**A/N: Voila! What do you all think? Too much fluff? Not enough? A fair amount? I didn't want to elongate the reunion too much because I want to get on to the party and such sooner. I hope it was okay! Let me know!**

**Oh, and some of you may have noticed that I went with your suggestions! So thank you for your input, I hope you liked it. If there is anything else you all want to see, let me know!**


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